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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. bat — the animal
  5. snap — to click
  6. capital — money
  7. capital — a city
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. ball — a dance
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. field — farmland
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. chair — a leader
  16. field — a subject
  17. ball — a great time
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. branch — a division
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. field — for sport

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com